to want my DC to only have wooden toys? (Or is this a case of PFB Syndrome?)

[LovestoLove]

I don't think I'm generally PFB - I want my child to respect adults, eat with no fussing/faddiness (or at least no reaction on my part), have no quibbles about the step, won't give copious amounts of juice/biscuits, won't give into tantrums, etc.

But I really have a thing about the bucket loads of plastic toys that I fall over when at friends' homes.

I love wooden toys/puzzles, books, cloth dolls, make-believe things, fancy dress, etc.

Is it totally unreasonable of me to ask parents, in-laws, and anyone else who's expressed interest in getting a baby gift to get something wooden/natural? I know wooden toys are generally seen as more expensive but I've found some on Ebay and other sites that aren't bad.

Or am I going to be seen as crazy? I'm 30 weeks pregnant by the way with DC1.

We have a few wooden toys (brio train set, hammer and peg thing etc), but generally my house looks like a very very large plastic bomb has exploded!

Children LOVE tat, that's just how it is!

Oh lovestolove;many congratulations,I don't think anyone wants to be rude or hurtful we are just jaded and time worn!

Truth be told we're probably all enviously looking back to that precious time when you are expecting your precious first baby and its such an exciting,happy and optimistic time.So enjoy it ,like someone earlier said it is possible to keep to some rules none of mine ever had squash and don't like it now they all drink water;they do however eat in the car ,have chocolate biscuits and haribos and also have a games console all things I said we would never do.

Give us a break though sometimes its hard to be reminded that you yourself had all those ideals too but somehow in the joys of parenthood they got a little lost

mrswooden Thank you for your helpful post! I just feel as though everyone is intent on destroying my parental resolve!

And thanks for the congrats, it's been a very long time getting to this point so to be told that most of my ideals will get trampled on and thrown out the window is quit disheartening to say the least.

I don't know that I have a problem with eating in the car (I eat on the train so why not?! ) and love a good chocolate biscuit - just won't be opening new packets in the supermarket so they don't throw a wobbly!!

I feel your pain. We have a beautiful wicker pram and a hideous enormous pink My Little Pony house. Guess who bought what?

Hahahahaha....

You'll come to love plastic tat just as long as you DC1 loves it (which means peace and no whining!).

My DD has a good mix of plastic tat and wooden toys. As other posters here state, LOs love plastic.

When they are very little, plastic tat has the advantage of being lightweight so that they don't hurt themselves with their toys.

But yes the wooden ones look lovely.

Good luck with the organic wooden toys white company catalogue fantasy though.

LovestoLove - we've just got a set of flashcards with pictures and the names of the items below. The one for 'X' is a xylophone, but when we ask what it's called, he always says "Ben!"

yeah piscesmoon. I have no illusions about the no tantrums being down to my parenting, that they where most certainly not. It was just part of DS's personality. Ho hum. He's made up for it now

Lovely you sound like a lovely mum, things ill be fine, there is no harm in starting off with lots of high expectations.

When DS was 3 he loved a washing up bowl filled with water and a few spoons, sponges etc. to play with. Now at 7 he secretly still loves it

Aww, thanks. They are my nod to yummy mummyness. We still have a basketful of plastic/noisy crap!

I think you have to pick your toy battles carefully. Having watched my sister go down the route of wooden only with my 1stDN she successfully resisted Barbie, but ended up with a 7year old who was determined to have Bratz which I personally think is a million times worse. So I gave in to Barbie and there has never been any desire to have the Bratz.
We had a gorgeous wooden ride on horse from ELC which DD loved, we had a trolly and wooden brick which were never played with and a brio set which was never played with. The plastic ELC Happy Valley was played with no end and provided hours of fun.
As for the tantrums it only happended once - we arrive at shopping centre exited lifts total dying fly melt down entire world judging watching me and DD. I stood about 5 feet away quietly till she had finished, then said 'Are you done then we'll go home' the whole point of the shopping trip was to get something for DD. However, it took alot of balls to front it out and had she caught me on a day when I was tired I would never have done it.
PIL etc will just do what they want regardless of what you say with buying toys.

Lovestolove, no hurt feelings intended, we have copious amounts of wooden train tracks,rattles,blocks,wagons and other bits in our house, along with practically a wardrobe full of dressing up kit and the little one's bookcase is two deep already. I've also got a cellar full of plastic noise.

If wood's what you'd like, ask for it. 'No harm in asking' as my nan used to say

It's ok to have these expectations and good intentions, just don't be too hard on yourself when you find you can't keep to these expectations and you have to change them and adapt therm.

LOL random

Good luck with that. Some of DS's favourite toys tat are from McDonalds.

My DD loves her wooden London bus and the little wooden people that came with it. She also loves her wooden dolls house (must have been lucky because the furniture that came with it is great). However, some things are better made out of plastic.

Wooden building blocks are not great when thrown across the room by a stroppy toddler, particularly when they hit you on the head or crack the flat screen!

My point is to be selective. Some wooden toys are lovely, as are some plastic ones.

shiney I meant I am the one who has no quibbles about the step

But yes I will definitely update the thread in a couple of years! If I'm not too busy dishing out biscuits to my prostrate DC of course!

As others have said, it's more about the play value of the toy than the material it's made of. (Incidentally, even the noisy flashing lights is not all tat. We had a stupendously annoying Vtech phone but it was far superior to all the other phones we have been through)

IME a lot of wooden musical instruments (the small toy ones not Stradivarius ) don't give a very good sound. I coveted one of those wooden musical instrument sets with shakers and chime bars and whatnot until I actually tried one in a toyshop and all the notes were a bit dull and flat and they made hardly any noise. Shakers imo you need a range of different ones in all materials.

The DSs also adore the little plastic wineglass set from Ikea.

Oh for heavern's sake. Of course you're being entirely flipping reasonable. I had a similar conversation with MIL and SIL which began with me saying "oh my god, do we have to have pink plastic?" and them giving me the whole it's for her not for you nonsense. Then they came to see the nursery I had prepared and their jaws just fell open, they said "wow, this is lovely".

I started with several lovely cloth books, some gorgeous little furry birds from the RSPB that sing real bird songs, and a few lovely bright wooden toys. DD loved all of them, and when the ILs saw what I meant they kept finding more of the same sort of thing. And wood is so durable, we have wooden bikes on their third cousin - after being ridden at terrifying speed down gravel slopes.

Go for it! But rather than saying "no plastic", ask for the exact things that you want.

You will soon change, especially once your dc is older and has a mind of his/her own and sees their peers with the latest fad. You may want your dc to have natural toys, but it is rude and presumptious to request what people buy, there have a Bless you, really don't have a clue whats coming do you

Unfortunately, you won't have much choice anyway. Within days of DS birth, we received our first plastic toy from friends - a bunch of singing flowers which he and we loved. And now DD loves them too.

MIL was particularly bad at buying the worst kind of plastic toy (despite hints and lists and suggestions), and I have to admit that some of those have been hidden.

On the whole though, we have managed to avoid the noisy plastic toys that do really wind me up.

You will learn to stop worrying and love the plastic. I admitted Barbie into my home and it didn't kill me or stunt the DDs' intellectual development.

There are some things that are fab in wood, like building blocks, and Brio train sets appeal to some children. Same goes for plastic (thinking here of a Tomy Megasketcher that the DCs have loved and used every day since the early 90s). Yes, it's the play value that matters. And the social value of having at least some of the stuff that others have is no small thing either.

Tantrums -- never, ever give in. It is possible to stand your ground. They're just noise.

See, now I feel sorry for Random, and will spend the rest of my evening planning my wnaky basket for baby2 (due in a week and a half - shit).

OP - I love plastic (it looks so cheerful), but DS has loads of wooden toys he loves.

Babywalker with blocks, ride-on, play food with velcro, load of instruments, train sets, Pirate Ship.

I do think it's a bit rude to insist on a 'no plastic' rule for gifts.

Also, I worked in childcare for years before having DS, and it's only now he's reached the grand old age of three that I'm feeling the benefit of my experience tbh. It's just so different when they're yours.

Congratulations. Prepare to fall in love! [hsmile]